It is desirable to reduce consumption of fuel to serve environmental and economic goals. To this end, manufacturers of fuel-consuming vehicles strive to produce lighter vehicles that consume less fuel. For example, a next generation of aircraft is being produced that uses a lighter weight composite fuselage instead of a traditional metal fuselage. For example, the composite fuselage may include an inter-woven wire fiber covered by a carbon-reinforced plastic that is significantly lighter than a metal fuselage having the same size and structural strength.
In addition to producing a lighter weight fuselage, manufacturers also seek to reduce the weight of other aspects of the aircraft by reducing the weight of mechanical and electrical components while providing the same functionality as heavier components that are being replaced. Moreover, many of these systems, ranging from hangers used to mount devices to the composite fuselage to components of the electrical systems, also are designed to be compatible with the composite fuselage.
On an aircraft with a metal fuselage, an antenna may be electrically coupled to the outer surface of the fuselage to make use of the extensive, existing conductive surfaces of the fuselage. In an aircraft with a composite fuselage without a conductive outer surface, coupling, however, the antenna cannot simply be electrically coupled to the outer surface. Conductive foils or other conductive panels may be added to the structure of the aircraft to provide a conductive surface for an antenna to use, but adding such conductive materials adds to the weight of the aircraft and, thus, detracts from some of the weight savings gained by using a composite fuselage. There is therefore a need to provide a lightweight high frequency antenna system to enable high frequency communications that is compatible with a composite fuselage.